Jam Roly Poly/ Scottish Steamed Pudding with custard

Jam Roly Poly was the dish that got me attracted to the Scottish theme for our journey through the cuisines.At the face of it , it appears to be like roulade but it is not. Apparently in the olden days there was a proper mould available to bake these rolls.Even before those days, the house wives used to bake the roly poly in shirt sleeve....eeww- I cannot imagine what that must have felt like...but then point to share was that this recipe is pretty old one and has been around even now with ofcourse the edge of new techniques and tools.This is basically a pudding which steamed and then served with warm custard. This being an old recipe, the original recipe calls for Suet which is animal fat. The reason for this as I read was to ensure that the flour does not disintegrate while cooking and has tenacity to survive high temperatures.While there are many substitutes that are recommended but based on my experience with pastry doughs I knew using cooking oil would be good enough. It worked...please do check the steps on how to bake this in the oven though...as that is crucial step

Ingredients1 cup Self raising flour2 tbsp Oil/ Margarine2 -3 tbsp Ice cold water2 tbsp Jam - any fruit2 cups Whole fat milk1-2 tbsp custard powder- as per your liking of runny or thick custard2 -3 tspn sugarMethod1) In a bowl, mix the flour, oil and water to make a stiff dough. You may add a pinch of salt and sugar each for taste if you do not fancy too much of custard.2) Keep this dough for some time and then roll it out flat, about 1/4 inch thickness, on a butter paper or parchment paper. Leave some space from the edges of the paper .3) Spread the jam generously on the rolled out pastry4) Now start rolling this vertically, until it reaches the other end. Seal the edges.5) Use the butter paper used to wrap around the roll like a toffee wrapper. Wrap this into a cylinder.6) Place this paper on a foil sheet. And roll the foil to make another wrapper on top. Do not seal this very tight. Just good to hold shape but plenty of air within.7) Use a cake tin or bread tin . Fill it up with water and place the foil wrap in it. Deeply submerged.8) Bake in a preheated oven at 210C for 30-40 min. Keep a watch on the water content. You can add more as needed.9) In the meanwhile prepare your custard by boiling the milk and sugar. Mix the custard powder with little water and slowly add to the milk. Reduce the flame and keep stirring for 4-5 min or until the custard is cooked. It will coat the back of the spoon when done. Remove from the flame and set aside10) This is an optional step now, remove the baked pudding from the waterbath and unfold the wrapper. You may at this point, return the log back in the oven for 3-4 min further to get a crispy crumb.11) Cut the log into pinwheels and serve with custard.